Passengers arriving at the Beijing Railway Station on the first day of Chunyun. Photo: Guo Yingguang

By Li Yang

Beijing's Spring Festival travel rush, or chunyun, officially started Wednesday, 10 days ahead of the previous peak flow schedule for passengers. The railway authority said they would strengthen efforts to prevent scalping this time.

Over 1,000 scalpers have already been arrested since a special operation launched last December, according to a press release by the Ministry of Railways Wednesday afternoon.

Lots of police, some armed, were patrolling the stations and monitoring scalpers around Beijing West Railway Station. "The situation is getting tense, so I have to stop my business now," a scalper who wishes to remain anonymous confirmed to the Global Times.

In an attempt to crack down on scalpers, 37 cities in provinces such as Guangdong, Hunan, Sichuan Province and Chongqing, will require passengers to buy railway tickets in real names, like flight tickets. Passengers' ID number will appear on the ticket and they need to show their ID cards to take the train.

However, Beijing railway authorities told the Global Times that Beijing will not adopt the real-name registration system this year.

Buying a ticket home has been a persistent issue facing the millions of migrant workers in the city. Each year many passengers have to pay double or even triple the price for tickets from scalpers, or wait in queues for days at railway stations, despite hundreds of extra temporary ticket windows.

Some say that even when they were first in line at the ticket window, they still could not get a ticket. Railway staff are suspected of being in league with scalpers.

Gao Xiaobing, a director from the Ministry of Railways, said in the press conference that railway staff that scalp tickets will be fired and their supervisors will also be punished or even fired.

The four stations in Beijing had over 450,000 passengers Tuesday, most of whom are college students going home for the vacation. Beijing railways are expecting approximately 10 million passengers during the Spring Festival. The travel rush will last until March 10.

During the chunyun period, passengers seeking refunds should return tickets to railway stations at least six hours before the train is due to leave.

The Beijing West Railway Station will open four more entrances and a waiting hall for the coming rush of passengers. The station also added 135 temporary ticket windows.